has it been a year already?!?!

Has it really been a year since I woke Stefanie from her nap and said "come look at a picture of your sister"? I remember looking at all three referral pictures of jena thinking 'i'd really like to see how her face looks when she smiles' and it seems like once she started smiling she hasn't stopped. She eats everything in sight and we have fattened her up to the 25 percentile. Her little skinny arms and legs are now in almost constant motion, climbing, jumping, and swinging. Last week she started kicking and paddling around the pool while holding on to a noodle. She has turned those terrible tantrums she used to have into a fierce determination to be independent. She refuses to accept that she can't "do it myself!". Thanks to speech therapy she is much chattyier- singing along to songs and jabbering to herself while she plays. Sure, half the time we have no idea what she is saying but at least she is saying something. She gives big strong hugs and sweet little kisses. She has adjusted to daycare, the babysitter and weekends at Amah and Zaydes while Mommy works. She is a party girl- she is silly and she knows it. She is a big flirt, loves any guy who will toss her in the air. She is a daredevil, riding her trike down the hill of our neighbors driveway at breakneck speed, laughing al lthe way.The weekend before last she woke up, went into the bathroom, pulled the stepstool over, put the potty seat on the toilet, took her diaper off and climbed up. She has been in big girl panties ever since. I guess when you're ready, you're ready! In some ways i can't believe a year has past and in other ways it seems like jena has been with us forever. When I think about how close I came to missing out on the chance to adopt again from china i know I am the luckiest mommy in the world.